Santorum spouts off on climate change

Posted June 9, 2011 - 13:01
by
Starr Keshet

Former Pennsylvania GOP senator Rick Santorum wants you to know he doesn't believe in any of that "junk science" global warming stuff.

"To me, this is an opportunity for the Left to create - it's really a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm," Santorum loudly harrumphed yesterday on, yes, the Rush Limbaugh show.

"It's been on a warming trend so they said, 'Oh, let's take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it's getting warmer.' Just like they did in the '70s when it was getting cooler. They needed the government to come in and regulate your life because it's getting cooler."

According to Santorum, promoting the concept of global warming is just an "excuse" for more government control.

"I've never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative. [Personally], I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler," he pontificated.

"I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 - which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the man-made part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas - is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all the other factors, El Niño, La Niña, sunspots, moisture in the air."

Santorum's beliefs aside, there is obviously an ongoing debate about the cause and effects of climate change. But as Politico's Darren Samuelsohn aptly notes, the majority of mainstream scientists are in "widespread agreement" about the underlying issue.

"Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems," concluded a recently published National Research Council report.